Bjorn Rune Lie

Blog This!

2011-11-22T03:59:00.000-08:00

I did these illustrations a while back for Executive Travel Magazine. The article is about CEO's and how they can approach social media in a meaningful (business enhancing) way. The answer is not to be too "businessy" or do "blog posts by numbers", but to tweet from the heart. Be personal, opinionated and passionate...

Full Gass (Full Throttle)

2011-11-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

On the occasion of their 10 year anniversary, the good people at Dinamo Design in Oslo asked 10 collaborators to design a T-Shirt based simply on the number "10". I've had some some nice commissions from them over the years so of course i was delighted to contribute. They're printed in 3 spot colours in a limited edition of 50. Here's a picture of me looking like a tool!

Christmas Cards, 2011

2011-11-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

I've been busy printing a big batch of new Christmas cards lately. It's been a good while since I did any printing and as usual it was not a straight forward process...All sorts of things went wrong, testing my patience to the max, but in the end they came out really well and I learned a lot from it. (Lesson 1: Check that the separations match up before you put them on the screen...That will save you loads of hassle!) Anyway, They are now available from my online shop.

If you live in Bristol, drop by the Jamica Street Artists' pop up shop "Art Box" on College Green. Open on December 8. I'll be selling all sorts of things there: Cards, calendars, tea towels, books, prints etc etc..I'm even in charge of the window display. Yikes!

LOBO Perry

2011-10-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I was asked to make a label illustration for LOBO, a small micro- brewery located in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. They have grown and produced fruit from their family orchard for 5 generations and in recent years diversified into making apple and pear cider (Perry). LOBO means Wolf in Spanish and Portuguese and is also a variety of apple which they grow.

The brief was to portray the wolf character as 'sophisticated' and 'metrosexual', so I gave him a bit of a Frank Sinatra makeover in the end. Although I had to reign in my usual "wonkyness" to a degree I think the end result is pretty good. Some times you simply have to deliver what is right for the job/client. And rightly so!

I'm especially pleased with how the box turned out. It was fun working with negative lines and trying to do something a bit delicate in spite of the rather crude print process ...

Big thanks to Anthony O'Sullivan at Influx Creative for the passionate feedback along the way. This job really felt like a team effort.

More reliable than gold!

2011-10-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

If you don't have a pension plan in place don't worry - visit my brand new online shop to invest in your future. In these uncertain times it's a relief to know that some things will only increase in value........

http://bjornlieillustration.bigcartel.com/

Solo show at SNAP Gallery

2011-09-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

An exhibition of my recent work is currently on show at the superlative SNAP Gallery until 19th November. The show features brand-spanking-new pieces inspired by the astonishing and bizarre world of botany alongside a collection of other recent pieces. Come one, come all.

Nature Calendar 2012

2011-09-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

Human Empire, a brilliant Hamburg based design and illustration studio, has launched a great calendar for next year. 12 international artists have made nature related pictures for each month of the year, and I'm honoured to be one of them! My contribution is taken from my award winning 2008 picture book "Slapsefjell", published by Magikon, Oslo.

The artists participating are:

Bjorn Rune Lie (No), Vincent Mathy (Be), Mike Perry (US), Anton Weflö (Swe),

Markus Oakley (UK), Human Empire (De), Adrian Johnson (UK), Merijn Hos (NL),

Sergio Membrillas (Es), Karin Rönmark (Swe), Nan Na Hvass/Sofie Hannibal (Dk)

and Adam Highton/Yule Bringer (UK).

http://www.humanempireshop.com/Paper-Goods/Sonstige/oxid-oxid-8.html

http://humanempire.com/about

Strange Fruit

2011-09-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a piece I just did for RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects). It's based on an old editorial I did for People Management. It's gonna be animated (very simply) on their website! I'll add a link to that when it's up and running.

Local Hero

2011-09-12T04:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've painted, but the good folks at Peix in Berlin have yet again asked me to do a piece for their calendar. The theme this time was "Heroes, Gods and Garden Gnomes"... I decided to ditch the Gods and Garden Gnomes, and instead focus on "hero"... My original idea was to do a piece on American Folk heroes....who tend to be thieves and outlaws under a sort of "Robin Hood" guise... But in the end I decided to go for something more playful. Like a reformed "super villain" doing nice things...

Sekret Firmy editorial

2011-07-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of pieces I did for Sekret Firmy (Russia) a few weeks ago. It's for an article about a DNA database that can be used in geneolagy (...) Will post some pictures soon of the actual magazine...It's a pleasure to work for a magazine that's so beautifully designed! The spots below were dictated to me, by the way. Can you tell who those two guys with the glasses are?

Can't see the wood for the trees!

2011-07-06T06:02:00.001-07:00

Here is my latest tea towel design for Kauniste, Finland. Trees! Lots of them! Man, I miss the smell of pine trees! I also created an alternative version to be screen printed on fabric...Repeat patterns are really tricky to make, but I'm pleased with the result.

New Studio!

2011-07-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

I recently moved to a different studio in Jamaica Street Artists. It's a great room, but the massive windows have proven to be a double-edged sword. I've spent a small fortune on blinds, but it's still super bright! Nevertheless, I'm knuckling down, trying to get some stuff ready for open studios...which is only about two weeks away! Yikes!

Save The Bookworm!

2011-07-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

The good folks at Nobrow commissioned me to design a tote bag a while back, and now it's finally available! Before you rush out to buy an ipad, spare a thought for the poor bookworm whose future is in jeopardy! Nobrow of course, are champions of print, and wont give up without a fight. Join the struggle!

Sekret Firmy Cover

2011-05-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a cover illustration I did recently for the Russian business magazine "Sekret Firmy". They wanted looooads of strange details for this one, lots of graphs and charts incorporated into the composition. Quite like the result though! It was cool to write in Russian, although I have no idea what alot of it means!

Nobrow 5

2011-05-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

At last another blog post! Not really breaking news anymore, but here's my contribution to Nobrow 5: "Some of my favourite things". The brief was to create a repeat pattern out of 20 of my favourite things(...), 3 spot colours + GOLD! The repeat pattern was extremely difficult to work out, and was just totally against the grain of how I usually make pictures, so I decided to keep the colours as simple as possible, just using pink and yellow to create the black..(or dark blue, as it turned out!) I'm fairly happy with the result, but it got a little bit too technical this time for me to really enjoy the process.

As for the actual image, I decided to take on a different "persona", with a more interesting collection of "favourite things" than I myself have... I chose to be an explorer/botanist/adventurer from the early 1900's, loosely based on the exploits of Col. Percy Fawcett, a renegade explorer of the Amazon jungle, who vanished without a trace in 1925 serching for El Dorado(or the city of Z, as he called it)...The creature in the middle started out a tiger, but morped into a bat. His prize trophy; a golden tiger-bat!

A couple more..

2011-03-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some strange characters I did for an exhibition called "The Elephant Graveyard", which features a nice bunch of fresh faced (though in my case: old and haggard) illustrators at Urban Outfitters in Bristol. Thanks to Liam and Adam for putting on the show!

And yes...This is work in progress on another piece...(I got it framed and sent off before I got it scanned...What a dork!) I'll hopefully post a better version soon! I've always been intrigued by Victorian greenhouses.. And I love the prints of German biologist Ernst Haeckel. This is probably the most time consuming piece I've done...possibly ever! And I was supposed to be loosening up!!

Free stylin'

2011-03-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Phew! Finally managed to squeeze in a blog post! Things have been pretty hectic lately...

I've been doing quite a lot of self initiated stuff though, which has been incredibly liberating... No art directors, no size restrictions, no narratives that demand continuity, no deadlines, but time to experiment with new techniques and take risks......

I have a vague theme that I'm steering towards, but I'm sort of just "free styling" a lot of the time. The pieces can end up completely different than originally planned, by throwing in a strange character or suddenly turning the background into a jungle for example. The work I've been doing recently seem to be snapshots of some bigger story. My hope is that if I keep doing this long enough, they will start coming together somehow.

The History of Children's Playground Games

2011-02-01T03:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a project I did at the end of last year for The British Library.

It's an "interactive" illustration for a website dedicated to the last 100 years or so of children's playground games. It features lots of old footage of what kids used to do before they had computer games and mobile phones.

Unfortunately I had to alter the composition to make it easier to navigate, but never mind!

Wedding Invitations

2011-02-01T02:44:00.000-08:00

This summer my lovely sister is getting married to Tim, one of best friends! It was with great pleasure I got to design and print their wedding invitations!

Here's a goofy picture of me from the screen printing sessions at SNAP. A big thanks to Ben Newman for helping me out big time!

Tim is a really good songwriter, by the way, and I've had the pleasure to play drums for his band "The Weary Band" on a number of occasions...Check out some demos and stuff here.

New York Chili Festival

2011-02-01T02:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I know it's a bit late, but hey! I've made it through January without getting the English Winter Blues! Yey! Although my studio is still like a deep freezer, I now have a wood burning stove in my house to keep me warm, so I can get through the days just thinking about chucking logs on the fire, pouring a glass of whisky and putting on a black and white film...Ah..My life is kinda complete now!

Anyway..Here's an illustration I did for Yee Haw a few weeks ago. A poster for a Chili Festival, where 30 odd chefs compete to make the most devilishly nice chili! Should have been there!

The Future of Science Education

2010-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

Just did this piece for Futurelab. The article is about making Science education seem more exciting and relevant to kids. Whish my old teachers could have read it back in the day!

The Grand Prize

2010-10-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a painting I recently did for Edition Peix in Berlin. Really enjoyed a bit of hands-on painting after months behind a computer screen! The theme I had to work on was "Der Grosse Preis", which I think means "the Grand Prize", and will be printed on a promotional 2012 (2012! German efficiency!) calendar alongside great illustrators such as Atak, Olaf Hajek, Martin Haake and Martin Jarrie.

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows

2010-10-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a tea towel I designed a while back for a lovely Finnish company called Kauniste. Even though "birds" isn't the most original theme, I do like drawing them, at least when I can make them a bit odd looking. Inspired by Indian folk art, North American Indian art and Inuit art, I hope it's not too twee! I've even thrown a couple of communist agitators in there! Anyway, the design is called "Song Birds" or more exotically; "Laululinnut" in Finnish.

The Wolf's Whistle

2010-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Sorry it's been so long. I've been really busy the last few months working on a new picture book called "The Wolf's Whistle". It's the story of what happened before the well known fairy tale of the Three Little Pigs. Turns out there's more to the story than previously thought, and that the wolf might not be such a bad guy after all! The book will be published by the Nobrow Press in mid November. It'll be printed in three spot colours; Red, Blue and Yellow, and hopefully the result will look a little something like this:

Appalachian Power!

2010-07-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yee Haw have made a big calendar with my owl illustration on it. Looks great I reckon! Nip over to Yee Haw's etsy shop and place an order!

Open Studios 2010

2010-07-08T09:52:00.001-07:00

The annual "Open Studios" exhibition at Jamaica Street Artists (my office) went ahead a couple of weeks ago. They just keep getting better. Lots of people swung buy and I sold quite well.

After a year dominated by digital work, I managed to cut loose and experiment with pains and varnishes, which I had wanted to do for a long time. Very refreshing! The time pressure forced me to make bold decisions, making it harder to over-work the images (some would say "finish the images", probably...) I want to do more of this actually...Putting up stuff of various degrees of completion. Some times there is beauty in the incomplete. And it's more interesting. I'm very into primary colours at the moment after seeing the "Van Doesburg and the International Avant Garde" exhibition at Tate Modern. Such an amazing exhibition! Couldn't help being inspired!

Save the polar bear!

2010-07-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this here blog. Guess it's a good thing really. The weather has been amazing lately and I've been exceedingly busy with various projects and exhibitions.

I recently finished this map/game for the Norwegian recycling company "Grønt Punkt" . It's a big wall chart, 100x70 cm, that will be distributed to primary schools around Norway. The main objective of this game is to encourage classes to recycle all their milk and juice cartons every day and to raise awareness about environmental issues. After a year of recycling and learning, classes can enter a big competition to win a cash prize and polar bear adoptations.

This is one of those jobs where you kind of have to put your own preferred "style" to one side, and just to do what the brief demands. The client has been really nice to work for and sometimes it's nice to be able to just do a job. I enjoyed researching old maps anyway!

Summer Fun!

2010-05-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here's some spots I just did for Baltimore Magazine in the US. They're gonna be printed very small, and shouldn't have taken me as long as they did...Oh well. I think they came out all right in the end!

The Gold Heart Mountaintop Queen Directory

2010-05-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

These funny old skirts are now on sale over at Yee Haw's Etsy Store. Go'get'em girls! I really recommend having a good old browse while you're there. Better than the Argos catalogue!

By the way, this is a redesign of an image I originally did for a limited edition Monobird 7".

Cheating you say? Nah! Good to get a bit more mileage out of it!

Log drivers

2010-05-10T04:14:00.001-07:00

Here's another piece I've done recently. It's called "Log drivers on the Drammen River" and is another "homage" to the old river workers of my home town. It appeared in my local newspaper as part of a series called "Drammen Illustrated" which each week features a picture by an artist who either lives in or have some connection to the city. Drammen has undergone some dramatic changes in recent years. Traffic has been diverted through hillside tunnels, opening access to the river for the first time with promenades, artificial parks and beaches. A very costly facelift I'm sure, but it has definitely given the town an air of optimism.

With this piece though, I wanted to remind people that the city wasn't built by sipping cappuccino in a riverside cafe, but rather by the toil and work of thousands of workers with soggy feet and calloused hands!

Topsy Turvy!

2010-05-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

Nobrow no.3 is out! Which means I can finally post the picture I did for it. Once again, the guys at Nobrow are encouraging creative use of spot colours, and once again, they've managed to gather an impressive bunch of artists to do so. Pretty chuffed to find myself in the company of Olaf Hajek and Johnny Hannah I must admit. I haven't seen the magazine yet, so I can't wait to get my filthy hands on it!

The theme this time was "Topsy Turvy", which means "upside down" or "inside out". Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival where the social order was completely turned on it's head; slaves and masters swapped roles, feuds and arguments were put on hold and people gave each other gifts and basically just had a massive party. I really enjoyed this one. Spent ages researching it, although it's by no means historically accurate!

Who We Were and What We Meant by It...

2010-05-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished this album sleeve for My Two Toms, a Bristol band I've been a fan of for years. They play a stompin' kind of lo-fi country/bluegrass. 100% instrumental, but fully fantastic! Banjo, guitar (sometimes with ridiculously sloppy strings) and the occasional ukulele with maracas duck taped to their shoes. If this sounds like your kinda thing, check them out here: http://www.mytwotoms.co.uk. It's gonna be a 12' vinyl release, so I can't wait to see it printed! Should be out in a few weeks time!

The idea for this image is based on the old way of transporting timber; floating it down stream from the forests to the shipment harbours, saw mills and paper factories. The town I grew up in, Drammen, was built on this trade, so in a way it's a little homage to the log drivers of my home town.

Set Your Body Free!

2010-04-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a job I did last week for the Norwegian Directorate of Health. It's a poster for "Verdens Aktivitetsdag 10 mai", a campaign to encourage people over 65 to start exercising (however moderately) as a way to prevent various illnesses. A nice bread and butter job!

Hot Rod

2010-03-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Here's one I did last week for the Russian magazine "Sekret Firmy". It's for a feature on couriers.

Foreign Fiction Prize

2010-02-26T05:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture I did a couple of weeks ago for Standpoint Magazine. It's to go with an article written by one of the judges of this year's Foreign Fiction Prize. He argues that even though fiction translated into English only accounts for about 3% of books published in Britain, this does not mean that they are necessarily any good!!

Some really big Norwegian literary names gets a pretty rough time in this article, and apparently the author will stay well away from any books with the words "Norway" or "Norwegian" in the future! Nice to work with a really juicy and opinionated text for a change, although I'll probably never work for Norwegian publishing again after this!

Narrative Coaching

2010-02-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a job I just finished for "Coaching at Work" magazine. Its about "narrative coaching", a type of coaching which focuses on meaning values and aspiration. It seeks to shape new, alternative and more meaningful stories about client's lives and specific events...I could do with some of that!

Tropical Robots!

2010-02-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Better late than never. Had a bit of a break from the old blog. Been on strike. Trade union voted for industrial action. Only joking. Here's some stuff I've did for Yee Haw a few weeks ago; Robots! One colour only. The plan is to do eight in this series. Half way there!

Throwing some shapes!

2009-12-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

I drew a lot of random shapes in my sketchbook a couple of weeks ago. I just remembered and threw them together quickly to se what would happen. I kinda like it!

Charity Cards!

2009-12-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas is right around the corner, and it's time to get those cards sent out before it's too late! This design is featured in a pack together with 19 other artists including Ben Newman, Peskimo and Jon Burgerman! So why not buy a pack of 20 different exclusive, limited edition cards from here? Only £15! All I want for Christmas Cards is a new festive project in support of the Bristol based charity"Young Bristol" .

"Sekret Firmy"

2009-11-30T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a job I did before the weekend. It's for a Russian magazine called "Sekret Firmy". It's to go with a story about a businessman who really wants to pursue his dream to make films, but is afraid to take the plunge because of his responsibilities as a family man...He asks God for advice, and to his surprise receives a letter in return....

Christmas Cards

2009-11-25T02:13:00.000-08:00

Nobrow Press in London have been going from strength to strength since they started out in the beginning of the year. I'm really impressed with what they have achieved in such a short time. Take a look for yourself at www.nobrow.net I really can't wait to get my hands on the new magazine and the Blexbolex book. Also really looking forward to seeing Nishant Choski's new book. What better place to do your Christmas shopping? And while you're at it, why not pick up a set of Christmas cards? Designed by yours truly and screen printed (by hand!) in the Nobrow studio. You can't go wrong!

9am at Waterloo Station, London

2009-11-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I've just finished for a group show called "Secret Service". It's hosted by Rotopol Press in Kassel, Germany, and runs from Nov 21st to Feb 13 next year.

I really enjoyed working on this one I have to say, after having gone through a long creative slump. I managed to bring a lot of techniques together in a way I haven't been able to do until now. It kinda looks like an old lithograph, which I reckon is pretty cool...

Robot Owl

2009-11-16T02:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture that I did last week!

It is for an article in Vision magazine about the importance of assistive technology in education. How technology can help pupils with disabilities reach their potential. (Speech recognition software, braille printers etc, etc...)

I was fairly pleased with it in the end, but I couldn't get it to work for ages. It was driving me mad!

Storytelling

2009-10-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some spot illustrations I did for a magazine called RAAK a few weeks ago. The theme was storytelling, and how it has evolved through the ages. RAAK is an in house magazine for the Dutch company Arboned. Nice little job!

Ariadne's Thread

2009-08-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a painting i just finished. It's for yet another Peix calendar (unorthodox format as usual). Nice to do a bit of painting again after a looong break. The theme for this one is Ariadne's Thread. I'm basically illustrating the myth, with Theseus just about to enter the labyrinth. I've added a few geometric puzzles and stuff here and there, relating to the problem solving method named after the legend (the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding-such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle or an ethical dilemma- through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes...Phew!)

Work has been a bit sluggish this summer. Lost a couple of big jobs too, so the morale isn't on top at the moment. Going on holiday soon though. Woohoo!

Industrial Estate

2009-07-31T09:48:00.001-07:00

Go to sleep, you weary hobo

2009-07-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

Augusta Heritage Center

2009-07-16T08:37:00.001-07:00

Julie from Yee Haw asked me a while back if I fancied collaborating on a poster. She wanted to support a place called the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, which is a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving traditional music and folk arts. Seems like a brilliant place! I'm really looking forward to seeing how it'll look with some Julie Belcher typography on it!

Old Time Music!

2009-07-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've been in holiday mode the last few weeks, but I've been working on and off on a new range of cards/t-shirts for Yee Haw Industries. Animals playing old time instruments is the theme!

Zine A

2009-06-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've got a piece in a brand new fanzine called "Zine A", which is just out. It's printed in black and white, but looks really nice. It features one of my favourite artists, Marcus Oakley, so it must be good! Head on over to Tor Press and get yourself a copy! (£7 including postage)

Play it again Sam!

2009-06-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

Phew! As soon as the "Take it to the hills" exhibition came down, Lindsey and I put the work straight back up for Jamaica St. Open Studios. Good to get some extra mileage out of all the hard work we put into it, right? The Opening Night was super busy and I was really flustered because I wasn't ready on time with prices etc. But a great night after all. Rest of the weekend was pretty busy too, and I sold quite a lot of t-shirts, cards and books, but also a a few pictures!

Thanks to everyone for coming down and for all the great comments we received. Hope to see y'all again soon!

Lindsey put up this wall in about one hour! Great idea, which I can't take any credit for, I'm afraid. Just some bits and bobs we've gathered over the years, but it's nice to see a direct link between our inspiration and our artwork like that.

Pretty Boy Floyd

2009-06-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Heres my contribution to the "Mini Canvas Auction" at Jamaica Street Open Studios. All the artists in the building did a picture each, and thanks to the amazing auctioneering skills of Louise Gardiner we raised over £4000!!

I went a bit off the rails with this one. I've been meaning to do something in a hexagon shape for ages, plus I fancied a strange, chunky, decorative border. A bit art deco perhaps, without using any references or anything. I overheard a conversation where this guy was going over board about how much he hated every aspect of it. When he realized the artist was standing next to him he got extremely embarrassed. I really didn't mind though...You can't please all the people all the time...

Open Studios

2009-05-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

The annual Jamaica Street Artists' Open Studios Bonanza is suddenly just a week away! As has been the tradition the last few years, a bunch of us get together for a big ol' mural-painting session to advertise the event. Every year I swear I'm gonna start doing more "street art" stuff, because it's loads of fun and everyone who walks by seem to love it; junkies, kids, mums, businessmen, hipsters, punks, crusties etc,etc...

So yes. Come along for the big art hoe down Friday 5th of June from 6pm. There'll be cakes, beer, an auction, etc, etc...Then theres a big party at the Croft later, with heaps of DJ's and bands playing your favourite tunes.

New work on the old web site!

2009-05-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

I've put some new work on my web site...Hurrah! Here's an image I've done recently called Not In My Airforce. I'd been wanting to make a picture featuring old war planes for ages, but didn't know how to do it until now.

Nobrow Magazine

2009-05-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

The first issue of Nobrow magazine is out at last! It's a beautifully printed, limited edition magazine in which a range of artists have interpreted the theme "Gods and Monsters". The price is very reasonable, only £9, so get yourself a copy immediately!

My contribution is based on Norse mythology and features a showdown between Odin and the horrible Fenrir! According to the myth, Odin would get killed by Fenrir at the battle of Ragnarokk and the world would go under. Kinda like Armageddon I guess. All this stuff is normally the property of black metal folks who take it all very seriously... I thought I'd make it a bit more light hearted.

A limited edition screen print of the image is currently for sale from Nobrow Smallpress. It's an edition 50, all signed by the artist (me!) and can be yours for a mere £75.00

There's also an exhibition on in the bar/gallery Jaguar Shoes in London, where all the images in the magazine is on prime display. My image was chosen to be blown up real big, covering a whole wall! I'm super chuffed, because I must say it looks pretty damn cool!

The show is running until the end of June I think, so check it out.

Thanks to Alex and Sam for the hard work!

Take it to the hills! (opening night)

2009-05-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from me and girlfriend Lindsey Stainer's show, "Take it to the hills!" We both worked super hard to get it together, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out, especially how well our work sat together when we mixed it up (thanks Ben!) Check out the Here Gallery's website for more pictures. It's running for another couple of weeks, so it's still a chance to catch it if you are in the Bristol area.

Bachelorboka

2009-04-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the Bachelorboka project last week. Despite ending up doing quite a lot of work for not very much pay, it was a nice project all in all. Sometimes getting a lot of good and positive feedback from the client can be worth more than a little bit more money...

I got to fool around with old style packaging, make up ridiculous products and just really cut loose with 1940's style Norwegian copy writing... Even my most far fetched ideas went straight home with the editors! The only compromise for me was the colour...I would've liked a different colour scheme, but the client asked about 20 people what they preferred and they all said red...It's all right I guess.

2009-04-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

I've got an image in a magazine/book called "Gods and Monsters" published by a small London based publisher/art studio called Nobrow. It features work by lots of cool artists (like Ben Newman and Stuart Kolacovic for instance) and its all printed in just two colours, blue and black. Really lookin forward to seeing it! There's a release party/ exhibition in London in mid May. Please come on down!

Private View: Thursday 14th May, 2009

Exhibition: 15th May-28th June 2009

DreamBagsJaguarShoes,

32 Kingsland Road, E2

Back to school

2009-04-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

Just finished this here peace for Futurelab. It's a cover image for a "Teacher's handbook".

I was trying out some new techniques, but it's too busy an image to really see it. I'm fairly pleased with it, but my girlfriend said it reminded her of Marc Boutavant (...) And damn it, I guess she's right!! I'm a massive fan of his obviously, but I was hoping it would turn out more graphic and not look so much like him, but oh well...Hopefully there's some of Me in there too though..

Turkey Leg

2009-03-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the last in the Carnival food series for Yee Haw...a high striking turkey leg!

Pretzel boy

2009-03-05T03:19:00.000-08:00

Finally getting around to finishing the carnival food series. Here's one I did yesterday!

Take it to the hills!

2009-03-04T06:15:00.001-08:00

Me and and my girlfriend are having an exhibition together in a couple of months time, in the brilliant Here Gallery in Bristol. The show is called entitled "Take it to the hills" after a beautiful song on a record I bought in a charity shop in Falmouth back in the day.

Heres a sneak preview of a couple of pieces. Lindsey's vigorously cutting up salvaged paper to put together her peculiar collages . I'm using this exhibition to focus on pure drawing and just to experiment and have fun. Better crack on really! If I had a schedule, I would be behind it...

Balaclava bonanza!

2009-02-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

I came across these amazing balaclava pictures yesterday, and I couldn't resist posting them!

The BA handbook

2009-02-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Working on a project for Universitetsforlaget (university press, Oslo) at the mo..Doing the cover and some inside illustrations for a book called Bachelorboka, a handbook for budding BA students.. Here's on I did the other day. Quite nice to work in black and white for a change. So easy not having to worry about colours!

Hillary and Tenzing

2009-02-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

I finished this piece last week. It's another calendar image for Peix Pharma (here it is along with two previous ones). The theme his time round was "Miracles of the World" or "Extraordinary Performances". After a few cups of coffee in a cosy cafe, far from bottomless crevasses and frostbitten toes, Ed Hillary's ascent of Everest in 1953 came to mind. For some reason I'm really fascinated by polar expeditions and adventures that involve extremely low temperatures...Especially when they go wrong, like the Italia airship in the arctic in 1928. Anyway... The british expedition, led by John Hunt, seemed to go swimmingly however...No hiccups, non of the crew falling out, no threat of mutiny or anything...Not even any casualties! Nevertheless, a really amazing achievement, realised thanks to careful planning, good leadership and excellent team spirt! Oh yes!

Corn dog + candy apple

2009-01-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

Here's another one in the Carnival Food series. Careless love!

Carnival Food

2009-01-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

Working on some new designs for Yee Haw at the moment. The theme is Carnival Food. Or stick food if you like. Just finished this Cotton Candy woman! Stay tuned for more.

Monobird 7"

2009-01-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

New years resolution: Update blog more frequently!

Oh well..I've been busy. Here's some pictures of an extremely rare and exclusive Monobird 7" which I've done the cover for. Monobird is the solo project of Jørn Åleskjær of the Loch Ness Mouse, and boy does he have an ear for melodies! He's recorded hundreds of songs the last couple of years, normally recording all instruments himself at home. Very Lo-Fi, of course, but I love that stuff. Check out Oslo Grammofon for more details.

When I say exclusive, I mean exclusive! Only 30 copies have been pressed, and the cover is screen printed by me, as is a small booklet containing lyrics and credits etc.. Even though it's a small print run, it takes ages to cut, fold and staple. It's a labour of love!

Board game

2008-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here's an illustration I just did for Vision magazine/ Futurelab. I wanted to do something graphic and simple, inspired by some old books I've got from the 60's. Dispite tryng to do something simple, I ended up with more photoshop layers than ever before. My old computer was on the brink of collapse! I am my own worst enemy some times. The client loved it though!

HARRY MC 1977

2008-10-31T03:03:00.000-07:00

I just love the quality of 70's snapshot photographs. They have this warm glow to them, and people and things just look so amazing. I find them really, really inspiring.

These ones I stumbled across on the internet while I was researching something boring i can't remember. They were taken by some guy who used to be part of a biker gang in northern Norway back in the seventies. Their parties look pretty wild, but man they must have had a lot of fun!

Boy scout series

2008-10-22T13:21:00.001-07:00

I've just done these two greetings card designs for Yee-Haw Industries. The theme is Boy Scouts/ Camping (obviously)... A bit cuter than my earlier stuff. I must be getting soft in my old age! I feel like a bit of a novice when it comes to animal characters, but hopefully these don't look too much like other people's stuff.

SLAPSEFJELL

2008-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

My new book has finally arrived from the printers! It's really quite amazing to see the final product after having worked on it for almost a year. I was really struggling at times, to keep the momentum, the quality and the enthusiasm up, but now that it's done and dusted I think it was all worth it.

The story is not really a story as such. It's "a day in the life" of a made up mountain village in Norway called Slapsefjell (Slush Mountain), where you are taken on a tour around the town centre and ski slopes, get a chance to meet some of the local characters and see what's going on. It's a "homage" to the Norwegian winter, the culture of cabin trips, skiing and the great outdoors (Something I really miss during the wet winters in Bristol!).

It's published by MAGIKON, a tiny publishing business set up by my friends and ex-colleagues Svein Størksen and Kristin Roskifte, who are both brilliant illustrators. This autumn they are publishing two other picture books ( one by Roskifte and Jan Kjærstad, and another by the fabulous Yokoland crew) as well as a nice little book on the super-amazing norwegian "pop artist", Hariton Pushwagner.

My (new and improved) studio

2008-10-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is my studio! I have only just painted the floor white and changed the whole layout around. It's so much better now! It's in a big old building with amazing views over half of Bristol. My windows face the wrong way though, but it's really nice anyway. The building is full of lovely and talented people. See for yourself at www.jamaicastreetartists.com.

Rocket D.I.Y

2008-10-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

I did this for a German company called EOS. It's for their annual calendar which is massive, and in a really unorthodox format. They have a different theme each year. This one was "nice projects" A pretty loose brief! It's seldom I'm totally happy with anything I do, but I was really pleased with how this one turned out. Really enjoyed working on it.

Art-like products

2008-10-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my stuff that is currently available from the Yee-Haw industries store.

The T-shirts are really nice, if I may say so myself...Julie Belcher designed them beautifully!

Letterpress Love

2008-10-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture from the old industrial museum in Bristol. It's being totally rebuilt at the moment, but I doubt the new printing room will look as cool as this!

Athens Signs

2008-10-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm bitten by the bug now! Couldn't resist posting these groovy signs...

Athens Street Art

2008-10-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

I went to Athens on holiday last year. It was really great, but the traffic is ridiculous!

It was quite a lot of good street art around though. This one I think is brilliant. Don't know who it's by or anything...But what colours!

Bjorn and Lindsey

2008-10-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Just found a bunch of Lou's photos on my laptop. Here's me and Lindsey getting ready for open studios 2008.

Roamin' and restin', adventurin' and philosophizin'

2008-10-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

I did these pictures of Wiley Oakley for Smokies Life Magazine last year...

"Legendary author, artist, hunter, guide, fisherman, farmer, developer, columnist, merchant, musician, yodeler, storyteller, botanist,broadcaster, poet, husband, father,seeker, dreamer, prophet-and a part of these mountains."

1st attempt

2008-09-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is my first ever blog post ! A bit scary....But I'll get into it I'm sure.
The idea is to post new work as soon as I've done it..Not wait two years before I get around to updating my website...Which I will do eventually! But I just seem to never have the time. ..
I'm a busy man. Or maybe just slow at everything.
Right. Let's see how this works.
Gotta go and bake bread and paint my rocking chair.